Choosing the right API means finding a balance between data coverage, update speed, reliability, and cost.
In this article, we compare five of the most popular crypto data API providers:
- EODHD
- CoinMarketCap
- CoinGecko
- CryptoCompare
- Glassnode
We evaluate each on data types (historical, real-time, on-chain), rate limits, documentation quality, and pricing plans.
1. Mobula — The Developer-First Onchain Data & Execution Layer
Platform: Mobula Official Site | Standout Feature: Stream-based, real-time onchain API infrastructure with sub-second latency, multi-chain coverage, and built-in execution — the data backbone for building serious trading bots.
Most trading bot platforms give you a pre-packaged interface and call it a day. Mobula takes a different approach: it gives you the raw infrastructure to build exactly the bot you want.
Mobula is a real-time onchain data and execution platform designed for developers building automated trading tools, crypto dashboards, AI agents, and DeFi products. At its core is the Octopus engine — a multi-chain pricing system that tracks assets from major tokens down to the latest listings on any DEX, aggregating prices using volume weighting and liquidity ponderation. Prices update every 5 seconds with no caching, even on free plans, and streams are available via both REST and WebSocket (WSS).
Where Mobula stands apart is its breadth. The API covers over 50 endpoints and 10+ real-time streams: token prices, wallet balances, historical PnL, pair trades, pool states, OHLCV data, wallet labels, token security checks, and more. It also includes an execution layer — meaning you can not only pull live market data but also route swaps and execute onchain trades programmatically. That combination (data + execution in one API) is what makes it especially powerful for bot builders who want to skip stitching together multiple providers.
Mobula supports a wide range of chains including Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Base, and many others, with a TypeScript SDK and a GraphQL interface available alongside the REST API.
Pros
- Blazing fast, no-cache data: Prices refresh every 5 seconds with no cache on any tier — your bot reacts to the real market, not stale snapshots.
- Data + execution in one platform: Pull prices, wallet states, and pair-level data, then route swaps through the same API. No need to juggle five providers.
- Broadest onchain coverage: The Octopus engine covers not just top-cap coins but long-tail tokens, newly listed DEX pairs, and low-liquidity assets — essential for strategies that go beyond BTC/ETH.
- Developer-first tooling: REST, WebSocket streams, TypeScript SDK, GraphQL, and detailed documentation with real-world cookbooks (Telegram bots, liquidation alerts, AI agents). Free API key to get started immediately.
- Multi-chain wallet analytics: Track PnL, historical balance, trades, DeFi positions, and NFT holdings across chains in a single call — gold for portfolio-aware bots.
Cons
- Requires coding: Mobula is an API, not a no-code interface. If you're not comfortable with Python, JavaScript, or TypeScript, you'll need to pair it with another tool.
- No visual strategy builder: Unlike Cryptohopper or Coinrule, there's no drag-and-drop interface. You build your own logic.
- Execution layer is newer: The swap execution and spot/perps features are more recent additions; mature no-code platforms have more battle-tested execution track records at scale.
Pricing
Mobula offers a free tier with a free API key — queries without an API key are available for testing but not production-ready. Paid plans are available through the Mobula dashboard, with pricing scaled to usage and rate limits. Given that most competitors charge $50–$100+/month for flat subscriptions, Mobula's usage-based model can be significantly more cost-efficient for builders running lean bots or early-stage projects. Contact the team via Telegram or email for custom enterprise plans.
Best For
Developers and technically proficient traders who want to build custom bots, dashboards, or AI agents on top of institutional-grade onchain data. If your ideal setup is writing your own strategy in Python or TypeScript — not clicking through a UI — Mobula is the infrastructure layer you've been looking for. It's also the natural choice when your strategy involves DeFi tokens, newly listed assets, or cross-chain wallet tracking that most no-code platforms simply don't cover.
2. EODHD — All-in-One Multi-Asset Data
EODHD is a versatile financial data provider covering stocks, forex, and cryptocurrencies under a single API. It supports 2,600+ crypto pairs against USD and offers data types that most providers split across multiple products.
Key Features
Historical Price Data
Daily OHLCV (open-high-low-close-volume) going back to 2009 for major coins — essentially Bitcoin's entire history. Ideal for long-term backtesting.
Real-Time Market Data
Live crypto price quotes via REST API and WebSocket, with up to 1,000 requests/minute on paid plans. Bulk endpoints available for efficient multi-asset pulls.
Fundamental Metrics
Market cap (actual and diluted), circulating/total/max supply, all-time highs/lows, whitepaper links, block explorer links. Not a full on-chain analytics platform, but fundamentals are solid.
Developer Experience
Clean JSON responses (CSV optional), Excel and Google Sheets add-ons, an API Academy with code examples, and 24/7 live customer support.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Calls/Day | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 20 | Basic exploration |
| Starter | $19.99/mo | 100,000 | End-of-day + live data |
| Real-Time | $29.99/mo | 100,000 | Adds WebSocket streaming |
| All-in-One | $99.99/mo | Unlimited | Everything incl. fundamentals, news |
Students get 50% off. Enterprise/commercial licenses available.
Verdict: Best price-to-performance ratio in the list. Especially powerful if you need crypto and equities/FX under one API key.
3. CoinMarketCap — Industry-Standard Market Data
CoinMarketCap is the most recognized crypto data aggregator, tracking 10,000+ assets from hundreds of exchanges. It's the default choice for current prices, rankings, and global market stats.
Key Features
Real-Time Quotes
Prices, market caps, volumes, rankings, and global metrics (total market cap, BTC dominance). Data refreshes every 1–2 minutes — no WebSocket streaming.
Historical Data
Available on paid tiers. Daily and intraday historical OHLCV back to 2013. The free tier only returns latest data.
Exchange & Derivatives Data
Exchange listings, trading pair metadata, liquidity scores, and futures/options prices on higher plans. No on-chain metrics.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Monthly Credits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Free | 10,000 (~333/day) | Current data only, 11 endpoints |
| Hobbyist | ~$29/mo | ~50,000 | More endpoints |
| Startup | ~$79/mo | Higher | Intraday history |
| Standard | ~$199/mo | Higher | Derivatives, more history |
| Enterprise | $699+/mo | Millions | Full dataset + SLA |
Verdict: Very robust but expensive at scale. The free tier lacks historical data, which limits it for research use cases.
4. CoinGecko — Broad Coverage & Developer-Friendly
CoinGecko tracks 13,000+ cryptocurrencies, including small-caps, DeFi tokens, and NFTs. It's the go-to for breadth of coverage and a genuinely useful free tier.
Key Features
Wide Asset Coverage
Any asset trading on a major exchange or DEX is likely listed. DeFi protocols, NFT collections, and emerging tokens included.
Beyond Price Data
GitHub repo stats (forks, stars, commits), social media followers, Reddit subscribers — useful for gauging community health alongside price.
REST Only
No WebSocket streaming. Free users get data cached every 1–5 minutes; Pro users get 30-second updates.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Calls/Month | Rate Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demo (Free) | $0 | ~10–30/min dynamic | Lower priority |
| Analyst | ~$129/mo | 500,000 | 500/min |
| Pro | ~$499/mo | 2,000,000 | 500/min |
| Enterprise | ~$999+/mo | Custom | Custom |
Verdict: Best free tier in this comparison. If you need heavy usage or guaranteed uptime, costs rise sharply. Great for projects that value breadth over latency.
5. CryptoCompare — Full Market Data + Extras
CryptoCompare covers 5,700+ coins across 260,000+ trading pairs from 170+ exchanges. It aggregates prices into a proprietary index (CCCAGG) that filters out exchange anomalies, making it reliable for backtesting.
Key Features
Market Data
Real-time quotes, order book snapshots, tick-level trade data, OHLCV at multiple intervals. WebSocket available for streaming.
Historical Data
Full daily history on all plans; minute-level history goes up to 7 days on standard plans, up to 1 year on enterprise. Raw trade data available.
Extra Data Layers
News feeds, social sentiment endpoints, and basic on-chain metrics (transaction counts, address data for major chains). Not as deep as Glassnode, but useful for correlation analysis.
Performance
Up to 40,000 API calls/second burst capacity. Built for real-time dashboards.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Non-commercial, thousands of calls/day |
| Basic | ~$80/mo | ~100k calls/mo |
| Advanced | ~$200/mo | More resolution + endpoints |
| Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited + raw data |
Verdict: Best option if you need price data and news/sentiment in one place. Mid-range pricing. Minute-level history beyond 7 days requires enterprise.
6. Glassnode — On-Chain Analytics Leader
Glassnode is the industry standard for blockchain analytics. Its focus is not market prices but the fundamental health of blockchain networks — what's happening inside the chain, not just on the order book.
Key Features
800+ On-Chain Metrics
Active addresses, transaction volumes, exchange inflows/outflows, UTXO distributions, SOPR, realized cap, HODLer stats, mining hash rates, and much more across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and major ERC-20 tokens.
Derivatives Data
Futures open interest, funding rates, and options data on higher tiers — useful for correlating on-chain behavior with derivatives markets.
Time Resolutions
- Free: Daily, previous day's data
- Advanced: Up to hourly
- Professional: Down to 10-minute intervals
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Access Level | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Free | Basic Tier 1 metrics | Daily only |
| Advanced | ~$29–49/mo | Essential Tier 2 | Hourly |
| Professional | ~$79/mo | All metrics | 10-minute |
| Enterprise | Custom | API + custom SLAs | Full |
⚠️ API access is officially included only for Professional/Enterprise users.
Verdict: Irreplaceable for on-chain research. Not the right tool if you just need price feeds. Best suited for analysts and quant funds, not everyday app development.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Provider | Historical Data | Real-Time | On-Chain | WebSocket | Free Tier | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EODHD | ✅ 30 years | ✅ | Partial | ✅ | 20 calls/day | $19.99/mo |
| CoinMarketCap | ✅ (paid) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | Latest only | $29/mo |
| CoinGecko | ✅ | Near real-time | ❌ | ❌ | ~10–30/min | $129/mo |
| CryptoCompare | ✅ | ✅ | Basic | ✅ | Limited | ~$80/mo |
| Glassnode | ✅ | ❌ (focus is on-chain) | ✅ 800+ metrics | ❌ | Daily, delayed | ~$29/mo |
Which API Should You Use?
- Building a trading bot or portfolio tracker? → EODHD or CoinMarketCap
- Need maximum asset coverage on a budget? → CoinGecko free tier
- Want price + news + basic on-chain in one? → CryptoCompare
- Doing institutional on-chain research? → Glassnode
- Need crypto and equities/FX under one key? → EODHD
Getting Started with EODHD (Free)
import requests
API_KEY = "your_api_key"
symbol = "BTC-USD"
url = f"https://eodhd.com/api/real-time/{symbol}"
params = {
"api_token": API_KEY,
"fmt": "json"
}
response = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = response.json()
print(f"Symbol: {data['code']}")
print(f"Price: ${data['close']}")
print(f"Volume: {data['volume']}")
Grab a free API key at eodhd.com and make your first request in minutes.
What can you ship this week?
📈 Real-time dashboards — Live crypto prices and alerts via REST or WebSocket.
🔁 Strategy backtesting — Years of OHLCV data to validate your logic before going live.
🌐 Cross-asset analytics — Correlate BTC vs S&P 500, ETH vs USD from one API key.
📊 Auto-refreshing spreadsheets — Excel and Google Sheets add-ins, no code required.
🚀 Get your free EODHD API key →
Looking for technical content for your company? I can help — LinkedIn · kevinmenesesgonzalez@gmail.com
